The Chronicles of Yolandia, an Investigation of CLD – Part V: Won’t Somebody Think of the Children?

It’s time for another round of The Chronicles of Yolandia, where I look at Chronic Lyme Disease and delve deeper into the claims made by Yolanda. Thanks to this past episode of Real Housewives of Beverly Hills, the spotlight seemed to shine on the issue of Anwar and Bella’s alleged Chronic Lyme Disease.

For the curious or new readers, please read from the beginning:

Pt I. || Pt. II || Pt. III || Pt. IV

Yesterday (1/26/16), Mohamed Hadid (father of Yolanda’s three children and ex-husband) posted this on instagram:

Clearly, Mohamed is not happy with the talk about his children and what does or does not believe regarding his ex-wife’s or their children’s illnesses. I don’t blame him, he isn’t on the show (except for a couple appearances) and isn’t out there making claims for or against Chronic Lyme Disease in general.

I have pointed out before the inconsistencies about the disease claims Yolanda is making, however, today bought out an extra side eye.

Yolanda’s instagram photo from today, seems to take a different approach from Mohamed:

In the caption, you will notice it says 2015 at the beginning, so I guess this is supposed to be a throwback Tuesday? It is even MORE suspicious because this week, Bella and Gigi are actually walking in Paris Fashion Week right now , in some beautiful couture, too.

An email I received from Sarah M. noted a few questions:

1. Who is taking this photo?
2. Why is this photo being taken?
3. Where is this photo being taken?

Instagram certainly has group photos and photos of people who clearly had someone take it for them. I can understand how many viewers and followers ask themselves, why is this something you ask someone to take a picture of?  We think of being ill as a private affair, but it isn’t even Bella sharing her journey, it is Yolanda. I also wonder where this photo is being taken at.  As Josh T. wrote to me, “I certainly don’t remember any plush linens in any hospital or doctor’s office I’ve ever been in or being allowed to have people snuggle while I’m getting an IV.” Me either, Josh, maybe we’re going to the wrong medical facilities?

Bella’s Timeline

On the BravoRealHousewives subreddit, the user Pris257 got to sleuthing before I could and laid out some of Bella’s timeline:

2013

• 2013 – Bella was riding competitively most of the year Source

2014

• 4/2014 – Bella posts to instagram a picture from a horse show Source
• 6/2014 – Bella sells her horse right after she graduated high school. Instagram comments say it is because she is moving to New York for school. Source Source
• 7/2014 – Bella gets her DUI. She claimed in the 11/2015 article that it happened just after she got sick. Source linked below.
• 8/2014 – Bella signs with IMG Source
• 10/2014 – Bella makes her debut at fashion week.

2015

• Summer ’15 – Yolo begins filming and tells everyone the kids have lyme
• 8-9/15 – Bella does a photo shoot for Porter Magazine and claims to be training for the Olympics Source
• 10/2/2015 – Porter Magazine comes out, with pics of Bella riding Source
• 10/8/15 – At a benefit for lyme, where she received an award, Yolo says the kids were diagnosed in early ’12 Source
• 11/26/15 – Bella says she was diagnosed in her junior year (which would have been ’12-’13). More bs about her not being able to ride and giving up her Olympic dreamsSource

2016

• 1/26/16 – Yolo claims in her bravo blog that they were diagnosed in late 2013 Source

(Note: I added in dates to make it more blog friendly, but the writing all belongs to user Pris257, who did a great job piecing it together!)

The biggest inconsistency is when did Bella actually gets Lyme Disease, if she ever did, that is a burning question still for all of them. The date seems to change: 2014, early 2012, 2012/2013, and late 2013.

It seems the diagnosis is whenever it is convenient.

I don’t remember every cough, every cold, every sore threat, but I do remember what ages I got chicken pox because I had a particularly difficult case which involved losing some of my eyesight and I unfortunately had it twice (yes, you can get it more than once, majority of people develop antibodies, I was part of the unlucky group.) I also remember the year I sprained my wrist particularly bad. I also remember a few years ago when I had a particularly bad bout of stomach flu. Most of us remember the fairly poor times of our health, especially recent ones and especially if it is something as threatening as LD. That is also why I find their timeline flaws so suspicious.

Why would they muddy the timeline?

We cannot know the exact reason. But I am most curious as to why they are trying to tie a DUI with Lyme Disease.

Viewers saw Bella’s DUI fallout happen. At the time, Yolanda says Bella made a stupid mistake, there was never an utterance of Lyme or her kids having Lyme Disease, let alone CLD. In fact, we saw her kids on the show every once in awhile and never was LD/CLD was never mentioned.

Bella  blew a .14, which is double the legal limit and certainly not “one glass of wine”. She also “reportedly flew past a stop sign, almost colliding with an L.A. County Sheriff’s Dept. patrol car.” Having an illness does not make you completely incapable to drive and if it does because of medication or control issues (like narcolepsy or some types of epilepsy), one should be responsible and not be on the road.

My working theory is that it might look bad on major fashion houses or brands, like Covergirl, to endorse a model who had a very public DUI (though her family’s wealth and exposure could probably buy her a career.) Saying she struggled with a disease makes the reckless incident look a lot less like her fault and therefore, she can claim to be more professional. It can also lead to avenues like being a spokesmodel and be less competitive with Gigi, who has numerous contracts with beauty products and is considered the more widely successful model.

Unlike their mother, Bella and Anwar don’t have social media feeds full of Chronic Lyme Disease talk. A few mentions here and there, but nothing like Yolanda’s. In fact, it seems Yolanda is much more talkative about their health than they are. I find that especially interesting as Bella is an adult now.

Wouldn’t she need to quit riding if she got this disease?

Bella’s initial reason for ending riding seemed quite reasonable: going to college on the other side of the country. It makes complete sense.

If she was truly that ill, there is no way she could compete in such a bodily intensive sport through high school.

So now Lyme seems to be reason she sold her horse, according to recent interviews even though her social media feed says otherwise.) Or were there were better riders perhaps? Maybe she just grew out of it? There are less than 30 spots for Olympians on the Equestrian team, truly there are 10 or less depending on your specialty. Equestrian sports are VERY competitive.  I have no doubts that she was probably a pretty great rider, but being pretty great or spectacular isn’t enough to make an Olympics team for any sport.

I wonder if in their minds, disease is an excuse if you don’t win. Even in talking about her explant surgery, Yolanda mentions she is the worst case out of all 9,000+ surgeries, etc. etc. From watching the show, we also know about her proclivity with perfections.

What about Anwar?

In previous entries, I mentioned Anwar, so I will spare details, but if the posts from recent social media feeds are any indication, it looks like Yolanda is turning Anwar into model child #3.

*cue Serial music*

On the next time of Chronicles of Yolandia. I will delve deeper into the “Lyme Literate” organizations, their mission, their history, and how this all relates to Yolanda’s very  public display of pseudoscience.

But in all seriousness, that post is taking a bit longer to construct and this was done sooner, so here you go. 🙂 Thanks again for reading!

-A